FaithT said:

Sorry, but your answers are often over my head. Can you please just answer my first two questions directly?

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My time is very limited just now, so please excuse my brevity.
Michie's response in post 14 is good - from "AI"! - but it is true.

The letter of James is worth listening to, very carefully, concerning the misguided confusion in many in the Church, on the matter of "prayer". A saint one said, simply, "Prayer is nothing other than union with God." Many in the Church want "union with God - but not right now, please! Let me have this life right now, God, so please give me this or that for the here and now!"

Such contradictory desires are of a "two-souled" person. Thus we must listen to St. James clearly on this matter. Two passages of being "two-minded" - or "double-souled" (depending on the translation) - must be heard.

First:

Jas 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
Jas 1:7 For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

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And he adds again, because it is very important! Many believers are of "two minds", or "two hearts": We want to have both an easy, enjoyable, pleasant life here on earth, and also the same after death, in heaven. We want to be a saint, but not yet.

Jas 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Jas 4:4 Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us"?
Jas 4:6 But he gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.

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This is key. God cannot love both truth and falsity - He cannot be of "two minds", as many church-going Catholics (and non-Catholics) "wish" He were. The will of God is pure, and good - we must seek always and only HIS will, not our own. We must be willing to die to any (misguided, disordered, contradictory) self-love, and fully seek His in holiness and simplicity.

I grieve to hear so many homilies and casual "adult" catechesis, where pastors seem as worldly as most who are listening to them. We cannot seek to be a lover of this world, and a whole-hearted lover of the One and Only Triune God, at the same time. This can be hard to hear - but it is Truth.

In their book A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, John Bergsma and Brant Pitre...

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That book is way more than an introduction!

I cannot believe that Biden would let in literally hundreds of thousands of students from one of out greatest enemies. Many of whom are dyed in the wool members of the CCP! They will reap the rewards of our best universities and then take that knowledge back with them to China! What madness it this? The guy should be...sorry? What was that? It's not...Biden? It was...who? But that...that makes no...

Ah, anyway. As I was saying. I welcome our friends from across the sea and wish them all the best. President Trump and I look forward to your arrival! Huān yíng guāng lín!

Everywhere in Christian meetings, books, magazines, and websites, there is a teaching that is always missing—the teaching about God's congregation. Why is there so little talk about this? Teaching about God's congregation should be part of every preacher's job. Now, before Jesus comes, the truth about God's congregation needs to be preached.

"Please pray for Christians in Syria, after threatening messages were left at two churches, heightening fear amongst believers." - link - Threatening messages left at two churches in Syria

SabbathBlessings said:

If you ask it to go by Bible only, you will get better answers, which is what I did. Its the same Bible study that I have been studying for years and I am not suggesting we replace AI with our own prayerful Bible study far from it.

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To be more transparent, I'm still looking for what you actually asked the AI and what AI did you use. "Bible only" seems to not fit what the OP has as it hinges on post-biblical labels (like moral and ceremonial) so it's clear it's based on external sources. AI is more of a mouthpiece for whatever is available and it might be the case that the "bible-only" key word is actually isolating more fundamental perspectives than progressive even though both are can be called bible-only.

You have to still critically work through the response and even educate the AI to what actually is bible-only and what it is not and it can even concede that it's terminology can be seen as circular. You end up having an hour conversation about sementics with AI and realize the AI model is still heavily reliant on existing perspectives and you can recalibrate it to some conditions you set. When I say "bible only" I want the answer to actually be bible only which doesn't seem to be the case when that keyword is used. with ChatGPT I had to correct it to stop using post-biblical terminology; in the end I had very different responses than the OP. Is my response better than yours? it's just an agragated response that leans to my bias. It is helpful and brought up good points but you still need to critically work through it all.

hedrick said:

Obama is not getting royalties from Obamacare. That’s satire

President Donald Trump shared a claim that former President Barack Obama received millions in Obamacare-related royalties before Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency stepped in to stop it. That claim originated from satire.

www.politifact.com

apparently the claims are satire.

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So, if I understand this correctly, Trump claimed DOGE ended payments that were never actually made.

Good job!

-- A2SG, wondering if they counted that figure in their big wall of savings....you know, the one that keeps getting corrected downward....

Angeleyes7715 said:

I have serious trauma from religious psychosis Im looking for a counselor for help please help!

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Why not speak to your local church pastor or priest? You need someone in-person I think. Be blessed ...

I don’t think He meant dogs, but it’s arguable.

If your husband is not Christian, you cannot expect him to act like one. Ungodly people act differently. Sadly, you may have wait your whole life.

David Lamb said:

I would say that there is no reason either to dismiss or to believe extra-biblical details about people or events mentioned in the bible. Particularly with the biblical account of the Incarnation, we find all sorts of "details" added, and accepted as an essential part of the "Christmas story." The donkey, an innkeeper, the wise men visiting Jesus at the same time as the shepherds, and much more. Some of these things actually contradict what we find in the bible, and others, we just do not know.

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Protestants (including me) usually are very, very reluctant to take into account anything extra-Biblical from the Apostolic or post-Apostolic era when it comes to the Bible or the early church history, but this position is inconsistent. Protestants assume Julius Caesar, Napoleon, St. Augustine existed - they usually attribute some degree of credibility to the various accounts about their lives - but somehow when it comes to the Apostolic and early church era all of a sudden all historical record in its entirety is disregarded because it's not the Bible E.g. what we know about Pontius Pilate comes from Josephus and Tacitus .. there is no reason to disregard that.

I would suggest to read e.g. 'History of the Church' by Eusebius (4th century) - the author was present at the famous Council of Nicea; and writes about all kind of fascinating details. We have to treat the history of the Apostolic early church era like any other historical period. Evaluate the sources using the common historian methods - and try to derive history from that with varying degrees of certainty.

The Apostles shared their accounts with others, what happened got passed on, etc. All that may not be canonised certainty but it's still very valuable.

We need historical realism for the early church era in the same way we apply it to any other historical period. It's a typical post-Reformation reflex to dismiss any extra Biblical record, but the Apostles and the early church left a historical trail of oral or written accounts. We need discernment in properly dealing with that. But the trail and the history it reflects on is real. Also we may overlook the early church fathers had access to information/libraries we now don't have anymore (e.g. Jerome mentions he personally had seen the Hebrew original version of the gospel of Matthew)

The very early church fathers who defined the Creeds didn't live in a vacuum - they lived in that trail. It's intriguing to notice that orthodox Protestant churches will vigorously defend the Creeds and Sola Scripture at the same time ... but also rejecting the worldview and many aspects of the faith of the authors of these Creeds. Many modern Protestants would deem the authors of the Creeds to be Catholic heretics, but yet somehow magically believe the resulting Creeds are infallible hallmarks of the proper faith.

We need realism, discernment and modesty - and a weighed valuation of the historical church trail.

To come back to the original subject; the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century AD) contains elements on Mary & Joseph that are referenced and valued by various church fathers. I consider it valuable background information - it's not canon, not infallible, but it may contain elements of that historical trail. Btw I don't believe in Mary's perpetual virginity as it would be very inconsistent with Jewish marriage, but the account may have truthful bits.

Be blessed brother!

My story La La Mermaid has finally been released on Amazon! I even made a video promoting it on YouTube and Instagram!:
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Lord have mercy!

Michie said:

They should placing a warning on fairy tales then. That stuff was read before college and it intensifies as the student matures.. why single out the Bible? It really makes no sense when you look at the big picture.

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Yup. Not to mention many fairy tales, the original, are violent.

The Liturgist said:

No, that would be one of mine - can you guess why? I’ve mentioned it in a few posts; its something of the signature breakthrough of my project.

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I've got you beat. I was born when the highest technology machine in a house was the television, with no remote control. You had to walk across the room to change the channel.

The Liturgist said:

On the contrary, a Christological-prophetic interpretation of certain OT texts insulates us from heresy.

We know from Luke 24 that the Old Testament is entirely a prophecy of Christ - most forms of recent error stem from literal-historical readings of the Old Testament that do not directly relate to God’s economy of salvation through His incarnation in the person of the Son and Word, Christ our God.

Conversely, Nestorianism resulted from the coercive implementation in tne Patriarchate of Constantinople of the literal-historical exegesis of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

Of course, Theodore’s interpretation of Scripture, although literal, would come across as alien to modern ears.

I would note that the best Church Fathers used both literal and Christological-prophetic interpretations of the Old Testament, while leaning towards literalism in the New Testament.

Many of our worst modern errors come from non-literal allegorical eisegesis of New Testament pericopdes, for example, the use of Mark 7 contra 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to attack the tradition of the Catholic Church, the use of 2 Peter to attack the Epistles of St. Paul whenever one disagrees with them, the claim Christ our God was only allegorically speaking of His flesh and blood in the Institution Narrative in 2 Corinthians 11 and the Synoptics and John ch. 6 and the related claim that Baptism of the Spirit excludes baptism in water, the claim of credobaptists that statements of entire households being baptized were not literally true, and the claim of liberal Christians that St. Paul’s statements on sexual morality are not to be taken literally.

To my knowledge, only five denominational groups, plus isolated churches in other denominations, namely - the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholics, High Church / Anglo Catholic Anglicans of the Continuing Anglican / GAFCON / conservative alignment, and Confessional Lutherans of the Orthodox Evangelical Catholic alignment such as my friends @MarkRohfrietsch @ViaCrucis and @Ain't Zwinglian have managed to avoid these errors (partially in the case of Roman Catholics as there are liberals vying for control such as the German bishops).

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I agree, for the most part. Implemented correctly, the use of allegory can be highly beneficial. However, it is a very slippery slope for some and I have encountered many truly amazing allegorical interpretations of scripture which hardly align with orthodox teaching.

As for the Bavarian bishops, you probably know their history. Bavarian Catholicism has had a curious relationship with Rome for a very long time. When the unification of Germany was accomplished by Otto Von Bismarck, the Bavarian Catholics found themselves as relative aliens in a Lutheran and Reformed conglomerate. In any event, we shall see how Pope Leo relates to them. Hopefully, truth and peace will prevail.

rjs330 said:

....In banking, much like other businesses we have large conglomerates that have a lot of control. Big banking. We do not have as many locally run and funded banks as we used to. Banks that would know their customers and would help them out. Now, like so much huge banks control a lot of the findings and loans.

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That is capitalism right there. People seeking the means for the most aggressive wealth accumulation.

I'm all for private enterprise. But in the name of "free markets" so called conservatives have opened every possible door for unregulated consolidation AND for unregulated corporate and billionaire campaign funding. I do realize that other parties rarely say no when donors come knocking. But its the Rs and their partisan supreme court who insisted this should be the rules of the game.

Simple objective experiment. Ask these two questions of your Google AI

1. Did Protestant reformers use the historicist method of interpretation for the prophecies in the book of Daniel?
2. Using the historicist model, please interpret the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8

As for this thread title, ask Google AI this question

"Did rival popes refer to each other as antichrist before Martin Luther did?"

John Emmett

Apelles of Kos (4th century BC) was a renowned painter of ancient Greece.

Artwork partially created using artificial intelligence.

Lord have mercy!

Praying for your intentions and your healing and peace.

Across the centuries, Church crypts — from Roman catacombs to American cathedrals — testify that death is not the end but the beginning of eternal life.

In the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland, a chapel adjoins the north transept. There’s a wrought-iron gate with Requiescant in Pace fashioned above the entrance. It’s the cathedral’s burial crypt, containing the tombs of the deceased bishops of Cleveland.

While a “crypt” implies a place under or below a structure, Cleveland’s cathedral burial chamber on the ground floor, named the Resurrection Chapel, reflects that definition as well as the tradition of burial crypts throughout the history of Christianity. It is significant that figures of both St. Peter and St. Paul are prominent on the Resurrection Chapel’s upper half of the north wall, as both martyrs of the early Church were buried in crypts: St. Peter below the altar in the basilica that bears his name, and St. Paul, buried under what is now the papal altar of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

“Every ordinary, that is, a bishop of a diocese, is a member of that diocese and has a right to be buried in the cathedral crypt,” Bishop Roger Gries, retired auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, explained to the Register.

A contemporary example of a burial crypt is below the apse of one of the most famous churches in the world, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, which began construction on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1882, and is set to be completed in 2026. The visionary behind the mammoth basilica, Catalan architect Venerable Antoni Gaudí, is buried in the Sagrada Familia Crypt. The crypt, completed in 1889, is the oldest part of the basilica.

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The Czech Republic, known for its historical heritage, fairytale castles, and medieval architecture, is considered the most atheist country in Europe.

Evangelization in this land — which still bears the scars of a past marked by communism and division — is a constant challenge but not an impossible goal. Czech missionaries say they perceive “miraculous touches of God’s presence” in a society increasingly thirsting for love and truth.

Approximately 80% of the Czech Republic’s more than 10.5 million inhabitants claim to have no religious affiliation. Although about a third of the population say they believe in God — in many cases without being linked to a specific denomination — only 9.4% identify as Catholic.

Nearly a quarter of Czechs declare themselves atheist, according to the 2017 Pew Survey on European Values, making the country one of the most secularized on the continent. Comparing census results since 1991 reveals a clear decline in church membership and an increase in personal belief in God without institutional affiliation.

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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a new translation of the Bible, which will be used for personal Bibles, the lectionary at Mass, and the text in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Bishop Steven Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced the translation will be called the “Catholic American Bible.” The translation for personal Bibles and the Liturgy of the Hours will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2027.

The bishops have not announced when the revised lectionaries will be available.

The USCCB also approved a Spanish-language translation of the New Testament, the Biblia de la Iglesia en América, which will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2026.

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